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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Matt Dunn feels he’s stumbled upon the right horse in Boys Night Out to break an usually lengthy drought for him in Saturday’s TAB Highway (1500m) at Rosehill.

Dunn has trained 38 TAB Highway winners overall but the latest was way back on July 13 last year when Cranky Harry scored at Randwick as an odds-on favourite.

It’s not often that a defeat or two is seen as a blessing in disguise but in Boys Night Out’s case Dunn said his close seconds in Brisbane at his last two starts have opened up this particular Highway as an ideal option.

“We’ve been a bit light on for Highway horses of late. It wasn’t a race we picked out a long time ago,’’ Dunn said.

“I thought he wouldn’t be eligible by now but when this race came up we gave him the space between runs.

“That doesn’t hurt, particularly when you have to travel.

“He has the right form going in, he’s got proper Brisbane benchmark form and his form before he came to me is probably good enough to win this.”

The four-year-old, previously with Mathew Ellerton, had won three of his 11 starts prior to arriving in Murwillumbah and two of those wins were at the end of his last preparation.

Boys Night Out runs second at Eagle Farm on May 7

Dunn said he was keen on the gelding’s chances first-up in a Benchmark 70 but he didn’t settle and when he removed the blinkers for his past two runs, seconds over 1350m at Doomben and 1600m at Eagle Farm, he went down narrowly.

“When he arrived with me he had blinkers on and I left them on him and he over raced his first start in them,’’ he said.

“He just missed two runs back and the tempo wasn’t perfect last start, he had to get rolling on him and it probably didn’t help much. It took that dash off him late.

“It’s probably fair to say he should have won his last two, he hasn’t had much luck. That’s the upside, he can go to a Highway after three starts.

“He’s a decent horse for sure, he fits in good to the Highways.”

Aaron Bullock rides Boys Night Out, $3.60 with TAB on Wednesday, in the Highway where he’ll carry 59kg under the Plate conditions of the race and Dunn said he’s drawn ideally to have his chance.

“He’s done really well since his last run and he has the nice space with the travel too, he worked well on Saturday morning so fingers crossed,’’ he said.

“From two he ends up at worst a couple of pairs back, he might even box seat depending on tempo.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Rosehill meeting